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SEPTEMBER 18, 2000

Vice-Presidential candidate and Senator Joe Lieberman (D-Conn) is being asked to oppose a bill that would create a new federal recognition commission.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal asked Lieberman to oppose the bill last Thursday. It was the same day Blumenthal attended a town forum and said the Bureau of Indian Affairs cannot do its job properly.

In a letter to Lieberman, Blumenthal said the bill has numerous problems. He believes the commission that would be created by the bill is subject to unfair input because the President can consider the opinions of non-recognized tribes in naming its members.

The bill authorizes the President to name three members to head the commission and requires that no two can be of the same political party. It also states that the President should give "careful consideration" to recommendations made by "Indian tribes" and those with a background in "Indian law or policy, anthropology, genealogy, or history."

However, for purposes the act, "Indian tribes" is defined as federally acknowledged tribes only. The bill does not specifically state that opinions of non-federally recognized or state-recognized tribes would be considered by the President.

In response, Blumenthal says the input of states and local governments needs to be allowed.

Blumenthal also believes the standard of proof currently required by the seven mandatory criteria used by the BIA's Bureau of Acknowledgment and Research (BAR) would be lowered by the new bill. He says petitioning groups wouldn't be required to prove descent from a historical tribe or show existence as a tribe prior to 1900.

However, under the current language of the bill, the historical descent criteria is still present. The petitioning group must show "established descendancy from an Indian group that existed historically, or from historical Indian groups that combined and functioned as a single autonomous entity."

Additionally, the bill requires petitioning groups to show tribal existence from 1871, not 1900. Exceptions to the date deadline include groups whom the Department of Interior considered eligible for reorganization under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.

In that case, the group has to show particular types of proof starting from 1934. An alternative bill previously introduced in the House requires groups who tribal existence from 1934.

Finally, Blumenthal says the commission won't have enough time to review and evaluate petitioning groups. The bill requires the commission to set a date for a preliminary hearing within 60 days of receiving a petition of having it transferred from the current list of groups. After a hearing is conducted, the commission has to issue a finding within 30 days.

"I think 90 days is enough time" to complete the process, says Mark Tilden, a lawyer for the Native American Rights Fund (NARF). NARF, based in Boulder, Colorado, represents several tribes seeking recognition.

Whether or not Lieberman will accept Blumenthal's misgivings is yet to be seen. He hasn't issued a comment on it.

However, Lieberman has voiced concerns about the federal recognition process. At a campaign stop last month, he said the BIA should start all over in evaluating the petitions of the Eastern Paucatuck and Paucatuck Eastern Pequot tribes.

Prior incursions into Indian affairs for Lieberman include a failed bill he introduced in 1997. The bill would have prevented the Department of Interior from taking into trust lands for financially successful tribes like the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.

Hearings were held on the federal recognition bill in May. It was marked up and approved by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs earlier this month.

Get the Bill:
A bill to provide for administrative procedures to extend Federal recognition to certain Indian groups, and for other purposes (S.611)

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Lieberman wants BIA to start again (Tribal Law 09/05)
Lieberman's record resurfaces (The Talking Circle 08/22)
Town: Gover a 'mockery' (The Talking Circle 5/25)
Gover wants BIA out of nastiness (Tribal Law 5/25)
Key Provisions of the Indian Federal Recognition Administrative Procedures Act of 1999 (Tribal Law 5/25)

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